Which event do you choose?

Posted on 28th Feb 2017

There are two ways of addressing this question. Either you, or your committee, chooses the event and tells the attendees what they will be doing or you can try to choose by consensus, by sending out a questionnaire.

I would always advise people to make as much of the decision as possible amongst the smallest group of people. However, some companies need to work with consensus and have a culture of sharing decisions.

If you need to take a consensus view then control the way in which questions are asked. If you give everyone a list of activities and ask them to choose then some people are going to be satisfied and some are not. It’s possible for that to turn into a loaded situation in which people take decisions personally or question why decisions were made and whether everyone’s wish carried the same weight.

You can involve everyone to the degree of asking if anyone has any injuries or fears that would make certain activities difficult for them. Obviously this is a confidential process. You, or the committee, can then make a best choice based on the information you receive.

One of the most effective ways of organising events is to arrange several in one go. That way if someone's first choice is not featured this time it can be later. It is better to organise a programme of events instead of taking them on one at a time.

Remember:- You can’t please all of the people all of the time. However, there are ways to mitigate any downside.